United States Senator Lisa Murkowski

CD-5

Responsible oil and natural gas development on the North Slope is the backbone of Alaska’s economy. That is why Senator Lisa Murkowski has been closely monitoring ConocoPhillips’ efforts to develop the first producing well in the CD-5 field located just inside the boundaries of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).

The CD-5 field is located across the Colville River from ConocoPhillips’ Alpine development. Future access to the nation’s largest petroleum reserve depends on the construction of a bridge across the Colville River, since the most economically efficient method for development of NPR-A is to utilize and connect to existing infrastructure. Without a bridge across the Colville, there is no cost-effective way to truck equipment and workers into the petroleum reserve or export the oil from existing facilities at Prudhoe Bay. 

Senator Murkowski welcomes the December 5th agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approving construction of a road across the Colville River. 

Senator Murkowski called the agreement long overdue and said she now expects the Corps to move quickly to approve the proposed bridge and allow access to the oil and natural gas reserves within the NPR-A within a matter of weeks. That approval will lead to the creation of jobs, federal revenue and energy security.

Once the final permit is issued, ConocoPhillips can begin developing its leases at the CD-5. ConocoPhillips, along with its partner Anadarko Petroleum, has been working for nearly a decade to develop the oil and gas reserves at the CD-5.

Last year, the Corps rejected a plan by ConocoPhillips to construct a four-mile-long gravel road and bridge across the Colville River to connect CD-5 to the Alpine production facilities. The rejection came after the EPA, without public notice or process, designated the Colville River as an Aquatic Resource of National Importance. The reversal by the agencies represents a major achievement for the project. In 2004, the Bureau of Land Management and cooperating agencies completed an environmental impact statement that recommended a bridge-based crossing of the Colville. The bridge has also been supported by the North Slope Borough, the village of Nuiqsut, the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which owns the subsurface rights to the CD-5, and the Alaska Native village corporation, Kuukpik Corp., which owns the surface rights at the CD-5. 

As the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Murkowski has pressed the Corps and the Obama administration, with increasing frequency and intensity, for the past two years to resolve the roadblocks to oil and gas development in the NPR-A. Among the actions taken by Senator Murkowski are the following:

• On December 10, 2010, Murkowski wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy to express her concerns about Corps’ decision to deny ConocoPhillips a permit to bridge the Colville River.

• On December 20, 2010, Murkowski publicly called on EPA Administrator Jackson to explain why the agency determined the Colville River deserved the designation of an Aquatic Resource of National Importance, which triggered stricter environmental regulation.

• Also in December 2010, and again in September 2011, Murkowski sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy requesting a timely resolution of the permitting roadblocks facing the CD-5 project.

• On March 2, 2011 Murkowski questioned Interior Secretary Salazar about the department’s commitment to developing NPR-A’s oil and gas resources and the affect of the EPA designating the Colville River as an Aquatic Resource of National Importance. Murkowski’s questioning begins at the 44:30 minute mark.

• On March 16, 2011 Murkowski grilled EPA Administrator Jackson on why it was taking years to get required air permits for oil and gas projects in Alaska. Murkowski’s questioning begins at the 29:48 minute mark and again at the 99:29 minute mark.

• As a direct result of Murkowski’s appeal to the While House and Interior Secretary Salazar, Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes indicated the department’s support for the road and bridge approach in a May 3, 2011, letter to the Corps.

• In August, Murkowski brought Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Sen. Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee with oversight of the Interior Department’s budget, to Alaska to see the CD-5 project firsthand.

• In September, Murkowski sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy requesting a timely resolution of the permitting roadblocks facing the CD-5 project.

• At an October 12, 2011 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on federal disaster response, Murkowski pressed Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Darcy on the Corps’ overdue decision on CD-5. The video is available here, Murkowski’s exchange with Darcy begins at the 66:06-minute mark.

• On December 5, 2011 the EPA and USFWS announced an agreement in principle to ConocoPhillips’ proposal to access its CD-5 project with a bridge across the Colville River.